RAPE:India's fastest growing crime

RAPE is the fastest growing crime in India and New Delhi has seen more than 10 rapes last month alone.

As an embarrassed government gets ready to enact tougher rape laws, the victims continue to face an insensitive police and criminal justice system.

Nearly three years ago as India was celebrating the festival of lights, the world dimmed for an 18-year-old as she was returning from work late in the night.

Iris was first stalked by four drunken men and then raped by one of them in the heart of New Delhi.

"The whole night he raped me. My hands were tied and my voice deserted me," Iris recounts the incident.

And the trauma didn't stop there.

The police first refused to lodge an FIR and when they finally did, no medical tests were ordered.

Instead in a misguided attempt at justice they got her married to her rapist.

Two years on, with a child she conceived the night she was raped, Iris is out on the road, deserted by her husband and looking for justice again.

"Some times I feel I should commit suicide," she says.

Iris is part of statistics that have got sociologists worried.

The reported cases of rape have grown by 700 per cent since 1953. Last year 20,000 rapes were reported in the country. And India's rape capital New Delhi has seen 10 cases last month alone.

One case was that of a minor girl being raped by a policeman.

Sociologists say reasons for this sudden increase is a complex mix of migration, shrinking spaces in cities and the high visibility of women outside their homes.

However, law enforcement agencies argue that actual rape cases haven't increased substantially, what has is their reportage.

And in any case since 80 per cent of the accused are known to the victims, it's a crime virtually not preventable.

Joint Commissioner of Delhi Police Kawaljeet Deol would know.

She helped set up the crime against women cell in the capital 24 years ago.

She says though the police is often blamed for being insensitive to rape victims, their real culprit is the criminal justice system.

The trial of rape cases is very long and intimidation for the victim. Many victims turn hostile because of this," Deol says.

No wonder then that the conviction rate for rape is as low as 27 per cent. In a country where a rape is reported every 30 minutes, it's a statistic that should put all of us to shame.